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Simulation of a GOX–kerosene subscale rocket combustion chamber

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Abstract

In view of future film cooling tests at the Institute for Flight Propulsion (LFA) at Technische Universität München, the Astrium in-house spray combustion CFD tool Rocflam-II was validated against first test data gained from this rocket test bench without film cooling. The subscale rocket combustion chamber uses GOX and kerosene as propellants which are injected through a single double swirl element. Especially the modeling of the double swirl element and the measured wall roughness were adapted on the LFA hardware. Additionally, new liquid kerosene fluid properties were implemented and verified in Rocflam-II. Also the influences of soot deposition and hot gas radiation on the wall heat flux were analytically and numerically estimated. In context of reviewing the implemented evaporation model in Rocflam-II, the binary diffusion coefficient and its pressure dependency were analyzed. Finally simulations have been performed for different load points with Rocflam-II showing a good agreement compared to test data.

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Abbreviations

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

GOX:

Gaseous oxygen

LFA:

Institute for Flight Propulsion, Technische Universität München

LP:

Load point

RANS:

Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes-equations

Rocflam-II:

2D two-phase Navier–Stokes code by Astrium (Rocket Flow Analysis Module)

RCFS-II:

1D engineering tool by Astrium (Regenerative Coolant Flow Simulation)

A inj :

Injection area (m2)

A t :

Throat area (m2)

c D :

Discharge coefficient (–)

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2)

\( L^{*} \) :

Characteristic length (m)

\( \dot{m}_{\text{inj}} \) :

Injected mass flow (kg/s)

\( \dot{m} \) :

Total mass flow (kg/s)

M :

Molar mass (kg/kmol)

O/F :

Mixture ratio [–], \( {\raise0.7ex\hbox{$O$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {O F}}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$F$}} = \frac{{\dot{m}_{\text{Oxidizer}} }}{{\dot{m}_{\text{Fuel}} }} \)

P c :

Chamber pressure (bar)

\( \dot{Q}_{\text{int}} \) :

Integral heat load (kW)

R a :

Mean roughness index (μm)

T :

Temperature (K)

V :

Volume of diffusion (–)

V c :

Chamber volume (m3)

Δp inj :

Pressure drop over injection element (bar)

ρ inj :

Density of injected propellants (kg/m3)

ε :

Dissipation rate (m2/s3)

λ :

Heat conductivity (W/(mK))

δ :

Thickness (m)

ζ :

Constant factor (–)

η c* :

Combustion efficiency (%)

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ASTRIUM Space Transportation, Ottobrunn, Germany

    Christoph Höglauer, Björn Kniesner & Oliver Knab

  2. Institute for Flight Propulsion, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

    Christoph Kirchberger, Gregor Schlieben & Hans-Peter Kau

Authors
  1. Christoph Höglauer
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  2. Björn Kniesner
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  3. Oliver Knab
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  4. Christoph Kirchberger
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  5. Gregor Schlieben
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  6. Hans-Peter Kau
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christoph Höglauer.

Additional information

This paper is based on a presentation at the German Aerospace Congress, September 27–29, 2011, Bremen, Germany.

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Höglauer, C., Kniesner, B., Knab, O. et al. Simulation of a GOX–kerosene subscale rocket combustion chamber. CEAS Space J 2, 31–40 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-011-0017-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-011-0017-7

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